


Sway with Me

by singedsun



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Adorable Jester Lavorre, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst with a Happy Ending, Beauregard Lionett Has Issues, Chocolate Box Exchange, Dinner Date, F/F, Heavy talks over dinner, Spoilers for C2e94: with great responsibility
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-12
Updated: 2020-02-12
Packaged: 2021-02-22 02:22:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,611
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22674679
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/singedsun/pseuds/singedsun
Summary: Jester takes Beau on a fancy date to talk to her seriously about what happened and what Beau had offered the Hag. Serious talks result in a short walk in a gay panic, to the beach.---She’s watching with such wide-eyed intensity it makes Beau nervous. "Mmm, huh. It's very sweet." She leans in. "Jess, look. We talked about this as a group, I'm not going anywhere. We fixed it --  you did --  you tricked that hag and everything's fine now, right?. Fjord said it, Caleb said it, you know I don't have to leave." She shrugs. "We're good. I'm sorry if you were like, worried or whatever."
Relationships: Jester Lavorre/Beauregard Lionett
Comments: 5
Kudos: 86
Collections: Chocolate Box - Round 5





	Sway with Me

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Confection](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Confection/gifts).



> Merry chocolate box to you, I really hope you enjoy this. I loved your prompts and I had a great time writing this. I feel like just this tiny divergence from canon is totally worth it for this date night.

Beau shifts uncomfortably in her chair. "So um. Jess, not that this place isn't like, nice and all…" She looks the place over, at the other diners at their cramped tables and small plates holding delicate stemware as they drink what she can only assume is wine that's way overpriced.

"Beau," Jester leans forward over the table, plate tipping awkwardly as she presses on it with one arm. It's only crumbs, but a trickle of leftover oil or butter or something slides from one side of the plate to the other. "Isn't it so nice though? I thought like, I don't know, we deserved something fancy. You deserved something kind of fancy! After everything you know?" (used lean twice in one sentence so offered a change up, added exclamation point as Jester especially can speak quite emphatically at times)

"Okay…"

"Like, we went to your house and everything was so nice. And then, we did all that stuff and I want you to know that, like, sometimes we can have nice things too. Better things. Things that are even nicer than all that. That like--"

Beau holds up her hand and reaches across the table to push Jester's plate down before that sauce soaks into the poofy sleeve of Jester's new dress. "Hey," she says with a calm smile. "I know all that."

Jester sighs and sits back a little, moving her hands. "I mean, I know Fjord was kind of trying to make you remember that we all care about you. And I said it then, but we didn't really talk about it. And like, we don't have much time here, but I wanted something that was just you and me."

They both smile, Jester sweetly and Beau through a confused almost dismissive snort. Beau looks around more carefully, drawing out a question, "So this is what? Fancy dinner, fancy clothes…" It definitely wasn’t the kind of place they went as a group unless they had money to throw at things. 

"Like, maybe I wanted to tell you how sad I'd be if you were gone. Not just because you're a part of the Mighty Nein, you know one of us. But me, Jester, your roommate, I would be so, so sad if you went somewhere that wasn't with us."

"You trying to buy me a nice dinner so I'll stay?"

"No, Beau!" Jester huffs. She thinks for a moment, digging her fingers into a sweet bread on a separate plate between them. Little pieces pull apart, shedding sugar and flakes of icing, and she dabs the bread to pick some of up before shoving a small piece in her mouth. As she chews she lets out a soft hum, as though she's thinking, and she holds up her hand to Beau to keep her from saying anything.

"Mmmmmm… Okay, so you remember that night on the Ball Eater? You gave me a hug, and I said I loved you, and you said I love you, and it was so nice and sweet? I think about that a lot you know. And how like that one time you tried to pick a different room in Rexxentrum because they gave us so many? I didn't like that at all." She shakes her head, the bells and ribbons on her horns swinging emphatically.

"I mean, I didn't mean anything by that…"

"I know, Beau. I'm just trying to say like, I didn't like thinking you might want to be in a different room from me. Let alone like now … thinking you might be willing to just leave us?" Her nose scrunches up as she says the last few words, a painfully adorable movement that nearly distracts her from the concern into Jester’s voice. "You'd be willing to leave  _ me _ ?" 

Beau flinches. She recovers quickly, reaching out for Jester. "No. No. Not you. That’s not it.” She winces. Everything she’d laid out for the hag, she’d meant to leave behind and that meant Jester. The misery in justifying it just meant she’d been right, that it would’ve been enough payment for the hag. Still. She’d meant to do it, if it meant getting Nott’s body back for her. “She wanted misery, Jess. I was doing it for Nott … you know?"

"No, that's not it. I mean, yes it was for Nott, but that's not the whole truth, Beau. I can tell."

“She wanted misery. Leaving you guys would’ve made me miserable. That was the point."

“You wouldn't have offered it if you didn't actually think all those things you said were true. That maybe things couldn't get better for you."

Jester stares at Beau and gestures with swooping arms out at the restaurant around them. She points at the empty plates they've finished, their several plates of desserts all half-eaten as if she’s making a new point. Jester lifts her fork and shoves it into the icing of the remaining edge of a slice of cake. She spears a raspberry at the end of the pile of icing and cake and shoves it into her mouth. Beau heart tightens at the small hum of pleasure escaping from Jester, and the sweetness of her simple enjoyment as she chews with closed eyes and a pleased smile.

“I don’t want it to be true,” Beau admits. “I never want to leave you all."

Jester licks her lips as she finishes her bite of cake. She smiles at Beau. "That cake is really soooo good. You should have some, Beau."

The change in Jester’s demeanor makes her momentarily uncomfortable. She shifts and avoids Jesters gaze, but does as suggested and swipes a finger through the icing. She winces at the sweetness as it melts on her tongue. A gulp of beer washes it away before she feels alright looking back at Jester.

"Good, right?" Jester asks.

She’s watching with such wide-eyed intensity it makes Beau nervous. "Mmm, huh. It's very sweet." She leans in. "Jess, look. We talked about this as a group, I'm not going anywhere. We fixed it -- you did -- you tricked that hag and everything's fine now, right?. Fjord said it, Caleb said it, you know I don't have to leave." She shrugs. "We're good. I'm sorry if you were like, worried or whatever."

"I was worried!” She stabs another bite of cake with her fork. “I don’t think I’m saying it right," Jester says, fangs showing as she bites down on her lower lip.

“Saying what?”

A waiter appears to refill their drinks. He takes their empty plates. "Anything else for you, ladies?" Beau shoots him a fierce look for interrupting and his glance shifts to Jester nervously. 

"No, we're okay, thank you byeee," she sing-songs. He backs away with a careful, curious look, and Jester looks back to Beau more seriously. "What I'm saying, or trying to say, is that it's not okay. Not okay for you to leave the Mighty Nein, yes. But I also mean me … Beau. I don't want you to leave me. I love you, you know?"

Beau hunches, looking smaller, reprimanded and she closes her eyes, nodding. Carefully she says, "I love you too," exhaling slowly with the words. She sounds pained as she speaks, and she knows there’s no hiding it at this moment. She shakes her head before opening her eyes.

She finds Jester's face tilted in her vision, lips pressed tight, forehead scrunched up with visible lines. "I don't know … You sound so serious, Beau. Love is supposed to be happy, you know?"

Straightening up, Beau nods. "It  _ is _ serious."

"Is it?" Jester draws out those two little questing words. "Is it because you have a crush on me? I know you like weren’t affected by the Zone of Truth when I asked, so if you didn’t mean it or something...” She peers at Beau cautiously. “Is that why you look so sad when you say it? I don't want you to say you do if you don't mean it. Or if it makes you sad. If you don't really anymore and that's why--"

"That's not why," Beau says softly. "It’s weirder to say now, it means something to me. It’s not the same anymore... It's the other thing." She bobs her head, trying to signal to what Jester said before. 

“What I said before?” Her eyes go wide and Beau watches her going back over her words. Suddenly her smile is so bright, it’s wonderfully, adorably gleeful. "I knew it!"

"Everyone does, Jess. That's why I said what I said."

"Yeah, but not everyone looks at me like that when they say it," Jester teases. “So I think it is serious.”

Beau thinks, “ _ It’s not just me,” _ but she holds it back. They’re talking not talking about the rest of the Mighty Nein right now, and she wants to hear the rest of what Jester is telling  _ her _ . Whatever she thinks about the rest of the group and their feelings for her favorite blue tiefling, aren’t hers to tell. 

“It's okay if you do, you know,” Jester says. 

"It is?"

"That's what I've been trying to say here, Beau! Geez." She gestures helplessly and reaches for another hunk of the sweet bread. "I wasn't just saying I love you and you shouldn't leave because … Okay, well I was. But it's the other thing too, you know?" She shoves a bite into her mouth and chews happily, grinning through it at Beau. She waggles her eyebrows.

It’s a little too much, waiting while Jester chews through more sweets. But it also gives her a moment to breathe. For a fleeting moment Beau can think that maybe Jester is really implying what she thinks she is. That Jester is saying something she’s been wishing to hear. She clears her throat and looks intently at Jester.

"The other thing?" Beau asks slowly. "The. Um. You. Have a--"

Jester hits the table with her elbows as she leans in. "Yes, silly!" Plates shake with Jester’s zealous emphasis and she puts her hands down over the remaining sweets to keep them from toppling. 

"Oh."

"I didn't take just everybody out for like this fancypants dinner.” She gestures at the sweets as their plates settle. “I wanted to take  _ you _ . So I could show you that we can do cool, fancy stuff like this. Like, if you want, you know. Just me and you."

"Oh." Beau feels the bottom of her stomach drop and disappear somewhere far, far away as she contemplates what Jester seems to be implying. “Oh. Um.”

"Is that a good oh, or a bad oh?"

"A good one … I think." Beau's eyes search the room, finding herself drawn back to Jester in a way that makes her stomach flutter and her arms grow cold and she feels hot and sick and… "Oh."

"Do you want to kiss me now?" Jester asks.

_ Merciful Ioun, does she ever.  _

"Um. Hang on." Beau pushes her chair back from the table and she can’t seem to get her legs under her right, like they really might be back on the Ball Eater. She's torn between running away or grabbing Jester and hugging her tight. "Um. Can we talk about this somewhere else?"

Jester grabs the rest of the sweet bread and shoves it in her bag. She lifts the rest of the cake, shoving it in her mouth and grabs the cinnamon roll in her hand. Several coins appear from her bag and she tosses the gold on the table as she stands. Her head bobs in acknowledgement, dropping cake crumbs with the movement. She nods at the door and she and Beau make for the exit.

In the street, Jester shoves the cinnamon roll into her bag and takes the last few bites of the cake, quickly, devouring it as Beau starts walking out into an open courtyard. There's a fountain in the center and from the top of the small hill, Beau can see the sea in the distance.

Around her cake Jester says, "Take a deep breath."

She watches as Beau obeys and draws in a deep breath of sea air. Her eyes flutter closed and she moves through the courtyard, Jester keeping up behind her. They wind through the streets, drawing closer to the water until there's nothing but a low wall separating them from the sunset tide.

"Beau?" Jester hops over the wall and stares out at the water next to her friend. Quietly she asks, "Did I say something wrong? Was I wrong about it? Should I not have told you?"

Beau scoffs and shakes her head, not yet looking at Jester. "I just … I never thought it'd be me, Jess. I don’t think I lied, that maybe we’ve all kind of got a crush, Jess. All in different ways, you know.” She wrings her hands and looks down at them. “Never, did I ever think you'd look at me that way, you know?"

"In what way Beau?" She reaches for Beau's hand and squeezes it tight. "You're beautiful and smart and strong, and you can climb so high, and you're nice to Fjord, and you would've given us all away so Nott could have her old body back. I didn't like that you did it, but for all the reasons you said about yourself … that you couldn't have more than this. But the idea of it Beau, that you would offer it. You're capable of so much kindness and love. So why wouldn’t I love you? You’re amazing!"

"I am?"

"Oh yes," Jester nods. She turns to face Beau and cups her cheek. Solemnly she says, “The Traveler does believe in you, Beau.” She giggles. “But I believe in you waaaaay more. Like so much. So much."

"Huh." She chuckles softly and shakes her head. “Yeah, I didn’t see this coming.” Jester’s face is close and soft and she smiles so sweetly that Beau can’t stand it. She whispers, "I think I would like to kiss you now. If that's still okay?"

Jester nods and holds very still, her palm a blissful chill against the blazing heat of Beau’s cheek. She closes her eyes as Beau leans in, and then there's the taste of cinnamon and icing as Beau kisses her. It's warm and soft and Jester melts into it, her hand moving from Beau's face to wrap around her shoulder.

They part, breathless and Jester grins. “I think that’s what a kiss was always supposed to be like,” she muses. She laughs a little. “Beau, you walked so fast out of that restaurant…I’m not sure where we are anymore. I think we went the wrong way."

Beau looks puzzled and twists to look back over her shoulder. "Should we go?" She asks, uncertainty tinging her words. "We could follow the shore and try and find our way back?"

Jester shrugs. "It's okay with me if you want to stay here a little while longer? Maybe we could do that kissing thing again?"

Beau nods, eager to kiss Jester again and then more after that. They know The Lavish Chateau well enough to find their way back ... eventually. "Yes. A little while longer."

Jester nods softly and hums her assent against Beau's kiss. She lets Beau settle them down into the sand and then Jester’s long tail wraps around them both. Jester hugs her tight and sinks against her and into another kiss. The chill of the breeze in the setting sun washes over them as they pause for a long look out over the retreating tides.

"A long while, maybe," Jester whispers. "I like it here."

Beau carefully pushes a wind-tossed strand of hair from Jester's face. "Me too."

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you very much to my beta [enemytosleep](/users/enemytosleep)


End file.
